CBU-97 Features
The CBU-97 is a cluster bomb equipped with Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW) charges. Each CBU-97 contains 10 BLU-108/B submunitions, which feature an infrared seeker and are designed to attack armored vehicles from their weakly protected top. After the cluster bomb opens, the submunition descends via parachute, searching for a target.
Upon detection, a rocket booster is launched, destroying the tank or vehicle with a direct hit. According to Pentagon specialists, a single CBU-97 cluster bomb can destroy armored targets within an area of 6 hectares. The SFW submunitions are most effective when deployed from low altitudes and at small dive angles.
Deployment Platforms
CBU-97 cluster bombs can be equipped on the following aircraft: F-15E fighters (up to 12 bombs), F-16 (4), A-10 attack aircraft (10), and B-1B (30), B-2 (34), and B-52 (16) bombers.
Combat Debut and Evolution
The main debut of the Yugoslav War involving the B-1B was the use of the CBU-97 cluster bomb from this aircraft. The “Lancers” were retrofitted for their use in 1996-1997. Simultaneously, the bombers also gained the capability to deploy CBU-87 and CBU-89 cluster bombs, which also carry self-guided submunitions and mines.
According to a military-diplomatic source from ITAR-TASS, the “Lancers” were involved in the war precisely to test the CBU-97 cluster bombs. Pentagon representatives expressed satisfaction with the combat experience of the B-1B in Yugoslavia, although they noted that poor weather conditions prevented rapid assessment of bombing results.
Further development of this cluster munition led to the CBU-105 bomb. This cluster bomb is almost entirely analogous to the CBU-97, with the sole exception that its submunitions incorporate the Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD) flight correction system.